NCJ Number
104735
Journal
Maryland Law Review Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1986) Pages: 115-132
Date Published
1986
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The Model Penal Code failed to provide a legal rationale for capital punishment decisions because the Code's provisions became the model for capital punishment after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that standardless jury discretion to impose the death penalty violated the eighth amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court said that standards are required. The Commentary supporting the Code's death penalty provisions discusses aggravating circumstances only briefly and provides a much more extensive discussion of mitigating circumstances. Some State laws, such as that of Georgia, have grossly distorted the Code's provisions. Some have added aggravating circumstances and left out any mitigating circumstances. An analysis of the application of the death penalty in Georgia in more than 600 murder cases has also shown that juries use factors not included in either the Code or the Georgia law in making decisions on the death penalty. The contrasts among Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania in death penalty decisions also indicate that geographical region is the most important predictor of death penalty decisions. The Code ultimately failed because the deliberate decision to take human life cannot be subject to legal discipline. 72 footnotes.